This invention is directed to a method and apparatus for continuously felling trees, and more particularly to a method of continuously felling trees by using a horizontally disposed tree cutting mechanism mounted on a powered vehicle.
Companies engaged in the lumber and pulp and paper business for economic reasons are constantly striving to develop new methods and improve existing methods of harvesting trees from timber stands.
At present, using current mechanical harvesting methods, it is usually uneconomical to harvest trees measuring approximately four to nine inches in butt diameter that typically grow in relatively flat sometimes marshy areas located in Northern regions. The only feasible method of cutting such trees in these areas is by means of hand operated chain saws. However, this method is labor intensive, which is undesirable for the following reasons.
First, on average, it takes one man using a chain saw at least about one minute to harvest an eight inch tree. Moreover, working conditions for the chain saw operator are often uncomfortable because there is often excessive cold in the winter time, there are usually excessive biting insects and humidity in the summer time, and the chain saw operator experiences back fatigue because bending over is required to cut the trees. Further, it is necessary to pay much higher rates to piece workers in small trees for equal wood volume produced, and on day rates, less wood volume is produced for a days pay. This system of compensation favors the cutting of larger trees, and hence the smaller trees are ignored because they are unprofitable to cut. Finally, there is an increasing shortage of good manpower in the "bush" because most people now prefer to work in urban areas. As a result, many potentially useful stands of timber mainly measuring four to nine inches are not being harvested.